Amor Prohibido
Amor Prohibido is Selena's fourth studio album which was released on March 13, 1994 by EMI Latin. The album topped Billboard's Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums chart, and peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 chart. Production Following the release of Selena's third studio album "Entre a Mi Mundo" and the launch of a clothing boutique in 1993, Selena and her band began working on the album. Having achieved the success and fan base that EMI Latin's president Jose Behar was seeking, Behar aimed to capitalize on Selena's broad appeal with the next studio release. The label was keen to use a Grammy Award-winning producer instead of the singer's brother, A.B. Quintanilla. A.B. knew Selena's musical tastes and vocal range, even though he found that he needed to outdo himself to remain her principal record producer. He found it challenging to meet expectations after the commercial success of "Entre a Mi Mundo" and its career-launching single "Como la Flor". When A.B. met with record executives in New York City and Nashville, they pressured him to come up with another successful song and he felt that it was important that the music he produced for Selena remain fresh. A.B. stressed that writing a successful song following "Como la Flor" was infeasible—as he expressed to Billboard, "you don't try to outdo a hit, you just write another hit". A.B. enlisted Selena y Los Dinos band members, Pete Astudillo and Ricky Vela, to help with the writing process. The result included a mature sound for Selena with experimental recording and production than her previous works. It was the final album featuring production and songwriting by Astudillo, who subsequently left Los Dinos to pursue a solo career. Recording Amor Prohibido was recorded at Manny Guerra's studio in San Antonio, Texas and was engineered by Brian "Red" Moore. The production of the album lasted for six months beginning on September 17, 1993. The recording schedule was squeezed in around touring commitments and the opening of Selena's boutiques, as Selena's husband and guitarist Chris Pérez recalled: "I don't even know how we managed to find time to make the next album." According to Vela, progress stalled and the band had to rush to finish production because of an approaching deadline. It then took two weeks to complete post-production before the album was given a street date of March 13, 1994. Vela said that it was common for the band to rehearse all of the music in advance of the recording sessions, as the band's production sequence remain unchanged for "Amor Prohibido." Selena and the band recorded their parts in the studio after they had first perfected them during pre-production. A.B. would then arrange and mix them, using an AKAI MPC60 II for timing and tempo control before studio mixing instruments were used. It took two weeks for Selena to record the album's ten tracks Pérez provided an evocative account of working with Selena during the sessions for the album. He wrote how Selena never complained in the studio, adding that the singer was never recalcitrant towards changes. Selena would often arrive at the studio during the album's production, "hum her part a little", and then proceeded to the mall informing the band not to worry because she would "know what to do when band is ready to record." Nevertheless, Pérez explained that the band never had to approach Selena on changes in the studio as she disciplined herself and tracked her vocals while requesting a second take in order to "add little harmonies she'd create" during recording. A.B. described his own creative process during the sessions in a 1994 interview with KMOL. He would use a tape recorder to hum a melody before creating a title and concept of a song. If he caught himself humming a tune the next day "then it's catchy", and otherwise he "wouldn't use it". A.B. also requested material from Rena Dearman, former keyboardist of the group, who provided several songs. A.B. favored "I'll Be Alright" and wanted Selena to record the song for the album. After it was rejected by EMI Latin because it was incoherent of the album's theme, A.B. suggested that it could be included in Selena's next Tejano recording. One song, "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" was improvised during a rehearsal starting off as a song with few, if any, lyrics. The band's drummer, Selena's sister Suzette Quintanilla, said "we were goofing off" and insisted that after A.B. began playing a groove on his guitar, Selena started singing, coming up with lyrics "as ideas came to her." It started off with lyrics about a cheerful fish swimming freely in the ocean, which Astudillo likened to a nursery rhyme organized around a wah-wah guitar riff using a crybaby that was improvised by Pérez. The track (then called "Bidi Bidi Bubbles") became an extended jam during the band's concerts to prevent promoters from reducing their pay for playing for a shorter time than promised Selena performed the song at the La Feria concert in Nuevo Leon in September 1993, a day before the singer and Astudillo began "putting the lyrics and melody together". A.B. saw potential in the tune and "nipped and tucked what Selena already done." He joined as co-writer, writing the guitar solos for Pérez, as well as the arrangements for the song. A.B. called it "kinda a little scary" finding the project the first of its kind. The day before the band was scheduled to record the album, A.B. approached Pérez and asked if he would be interested in working with Vela on "Ya No", a song that A.B. had written. Pérez worked with Vela throughout the night improvising the drum sounds and programming the music for it, adding electric guitar riffs, and complementing it with his own musical style. He was dumbfounded that despite A.B.'s assistance he had been given creative control over the track. The idea for the album's title track was Selena's own,3 although Astudillo had at one time aspired to write a telenovela-esque song entitled "Amor Prohibido". Together with A.B. and Astudillo, Selena began writing and recording a track based on a story about her grandparents. Selena was inspired by love letters written by her grandmother who wrote about her experiences as a maid to a wealthy family and her infatuation with their son. Her grandmother was forbidden to form a relationship with him because of her social class and described it as "forbidden love". Astudillo feared that Selena's father would reject the song because of the lyrical content of disobeying one's parents to pursue true love, as Selena herself had done when eloping with Pérez in 1992. While recording the song, Selena had ad-libbed "oh baby". Her brother believed that the recording would not have been the same had she not added the "oh baby" part. "Amor Prohibido" sampled the cencerro, which was intended by A.B., to attract people of different ethnicities to Selena's music. After falling in love with Suzette, and finding out about her marriage in September 1993, Vela wrote down his feelings (which he had kept private) for her. The resulting song was titled "No Me Queda Más" and it was given to Selena to record for the album. During the recording sessions for "Techno Cumbia", A.B. encouraged Selena to rap with a New York accent similar to Rosie Perez. During a New York trip, A.B. heard the Pretenders' 1983 song "Back on the Chain Gang" on the radio. Concerned about the lack of material the band had to record for the album, and captivated by the idea of reworking "Back on the Chain Gang" into a Spanish-language cumbia song, A.B. asked Vela to write a translation of the lyrics. After discovering that Selena had sampled her song, Pretenders' vocalist Chrissie Hynde prevented the band from releasing the album and demanded a translation from Vela before she approved a rights agreement. At the time of Hynde's refusal, the band had $475,000 (1994 USD) of pre-sale copies in a warehouse that included "Fotos y Recuerdos". Noticing it was the shortest track on Amor Prohibido, musicologist James Perone felt that "Fotos y Recuerdos" had "stripped some of the edge sic off of Hynde's text but retained the basic premise of on the Chain Gang"". Perone complemented A.B.'s arrangement as "an example of his universal Latin approach. Tracklisting #Amor Prohibido #No Me Queda Mas #Combarde #Fotos Y Recuerdos (Back On The Chain Gang) #El Chico Del Apartamento 512 #Bidi Bidi Bom Bom #Techno-Cumbia #Tus Desprecios #Si Una Vez #Ya No Release and Promotion "Amor Prohibido" was released in the United States on March 13, 1994. The release followed a recording contract with EMI Latin's pop division SBK Records, who aimed Selena to crossover into mainstream American pop music, in November 1993. After this news reached Billboard magazine, Amor Prohibido was given a spotlight feature in its album reviews which called its release a continuation of her "torrid streak." While Mark Holston of Hispanic magazine, wrote that the album's release reinforced her reputation as one of the leading Hispanic singers of the 1990s decade. With EMI Latin's president Jose Behar requesting enhancements to their commercial appeal, the band gave Argentine arranger Bebu Silvetti the song "No Me Queda Más" to be reworked into a pop-style track. Silvetti completed the project by August 13, 1994, and the album was re-released with a red sticker indicating that it included a "new version" of the song. In a Billboard interview, Behar said that "No Me Queda Más" was "internalized" without affecting the originality of its recording. During the 20-year celebration of Selena releasing music, Amor Prohibido was repackaged and was made available for physical and digital purchase on September 22, 2002. The limited edition version included Selena's duet with the Barrio Boyzz on their 1994 single "Donde Quiera Que Estés", music videos for "Amor Prohibido" and "No Me Queda Más", as well as spoken liner notes containing commentary and recollections of each track provided by the singer's family, friends, and her band. After featuring on "Donde Quiera Que Estés", Selena went on a mini-tour with the Barrio Boyzz that enabled her to visit New York City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Central America, where she was not well known. In September of 1994, Selena sold out the 10,000 seats D.C. Armory in Washington, DC, with mostly Central Americans in attendance. Daniel Bueno, who organized the event, told The Washington Post that Central Americans loathe Tejano music and thought that the addition of reggae and tropical music into her repertoire had helped her appeal to Central Americans. Nelly Carrion, a journalist for the Washington Hispanic, expressed how the audience resonated emotionally towards Selena's performance and stressed how people were desperate to touch Selena, forcing her act to be suspended. Selena made several appearances on television and in live shows to promote Amor Prohibido. Most notably, her performance at the Houston Astrodome on February 26, 1995, has been called one of her best. The event was critically praised for breaking attendance records set by country music musicians Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, and George Strait. Selena's performance in the Astrodome was emulated by Jennifer Lopez in her role as the singer in the 1997 biopic about Selena. Selena appeared at the Calle Ocho Festival in Miami, Florida with an estimated 100,000 in attendance breaking previous audience records. Her performance on a November 1994 episode of "Sabado Gigante" was ranked among the most memorable moments in the show's 53-year history. Selena performed "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", "No Me Queda Más", "El Chico del Apartamento 512", and "Si Una Vez" on the Johnny Canales Show (which was later released as part of the host's "favorite songs" on DVD). Selena's performance of "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" on July 31, 1994, at Six Flags AstroWorld was the subject of a video released by the Houston Chronicle for their segment "On This Forgotten Day". Ramiro Burr of Billboard called Selena's tour for her album a "tour de force." The concerts established her as one of Latin music's most successful contemporary acts. Chart Performance "Amor Prohibido" debuted at number three on the US Billboard Top Latin Albums chart the week ending April 9, 1994. The following week it rose to number two and received the greatest jump in sales for that week. In an interview with Billboard, A.B. was frustrated that the album had yet reached number one. He explained that they were limited in their capabilities with Tejano music and spoke about his excitement when Amor Prohibido finally topped the chart, saying the event "was a big thing us." The album peaked at number one in its tenth week, becoming the second album to place first on the newly formed Top Latin Albums chart displacing Gloria Estefan's album, "Mi Tierra" from the top spot. The sales were so vigorous, it nearly entered the US Billboard 200 and became the first Tejano record to peak at number one on the Top Latin Albums chart. The event marked Selena as the "hottest artist in the Latino market." The following week, the album entered the Billboard 200 chart at number 183, becoming the first record by a non-crossover act to do so since Mexican singer Luis Miguel's 1993 album, "Aries." The album also became the first recording by a Tejano singer to chart on the Billboard 200. Mario Tarradell of The Dallas Morning News called the event "groundbreaking" and named the album as one of the most popular Latin recordings of 1994. "Amor Prohibido" and Mi Tierra switched back and forth between the first and second positions on the Top Latin Albums chart for five consecutive weeks.157 Reception The vast majority of contemporary reviews for "Amor Prohibido" were positive. Critics at The New York Times overwhelmingly praised the album. Peter Watrous felt it stayed honest to her "country, working-class constituency" and Greg Kot praised its "contemporary snap" while Joe Nick Patoski hailed "Amor Prohibido" as a "watershed" recording from a supergroup at the top of its game. Others (such as Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine and James Perone) panned the album initially before coming to view Amor Prohibido positively. Perone felt the album sounded dated, despite providing ample evidence of Selena's appeal, whereas Erlewine characterized the album as "slightly uneven" and praised her success at recording the weaker material. Erlewine would later describe Amor Prohibido as Selena's strongest album, and an effective introduction to her work that highlighted her successful interpretation of the Tejano sound. The album's sound received positive reviews. Described by author Ed Morales as a "subtle evolution" and by The Dallas Morning News as "delightfully infectious, hummable and ultra radio-friendly", the tracks were summarized and praised by The Monitor as "romantic, charming and ebullient." Billboard characterized the album's sound to be transparent for those unfamiliar with its musical diversity while the Houston Chronicle marveled the album's ability at retaining its innovative sound well into the 21st century; a sound which was "light years ahead" of Selena's contemporaries. Selena's "seductive alto" was described as at a peak of expression. The San Antonio Express-News collectively praised the band as being at their "creative peak", while A.B.'s production was highlighted by the Rolling Stone who labeled it the "Selena sound" that would have made the singer a dominant force on the music charts had it not been for her death. The album hinted of a "pop potential", an opinion echoed by author Matt Doeden, who felt that the recording exhibited Selena's potential to become the genre's first pop musician. Many critics found "Amor Prohibido" to have been Selena's best work, calling it her band's "crowning achievement." Other reviews called the work Selena's "blockbuster album", her signature album, a "career-defining" release, her "most interesting" and "sleekest" record, a "desert island album" for fans, calling it a "notch up" in her career, a "landmark", a "victory" recording, a "sultry, regional anthem" and an "overnight sensation". Category:Albums